Future Sports at ISU

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theshadow

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Apr 19, 2006
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The 64-team field/super regional format has been around since 1999. In that time, Texas has more super regional appearances by itself (10) than the entire Big Ten combined (8).

The Big 12 has 42 total super regional appearances. 36 of those are/were by schools located in Oklahoma and Texas.
 

Doc

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Aug 6, 2006
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I hear all those same things said about Football though too. That Iowa State can't recruit because of the weather against the southern schools, yet the Big 10 does it all the time in baseball. And I don't see them dropping baseball from the conference because of the weather, or the feeling they aren't good enough.

Everyone uses weather as an excuse, I really don't think you can use that as a real excuse considering all the school that have Baseball in the Big 10 are just as far north or much farther than Ames is.

I understand the early spring games but if Iowa, can, and Minnesota can, I don't think weather is that big of a detractor. I do realize all the other schools in the Big 12 are much farther south but the same can be said for football games at the end of November too.

Although I do understand the point that Iowa State is at a disadvantage in this regard against the rest of the Big 12. But I think Iowa State has this problem with many sports, and I don't think you can use it because if you do, you have to claim it for all of them.

I do realize there are many factors involved and I think that it is a long shot for gaining any sport at Iowa State, but as dynamics change, boosters change and as the college atmosphere change things could happen. Whether that be Baseball, Beach Volleyball, Women's Wrestling, or Tecmo bowl.
I am not even saying that baseball is the most likely choice as a future addition of a sport if one happens. I just think the weather excuse is a bit of a cop out.

I am one that would also like to see our money concentrated on our current sports and facilities myself, but I would love to see a couple of these sports either back or started at Iowa State, but ultimately I was just hoping for good discussion.

Hell and if the doomsday cult is right it will be so warm in Ames from Global warming that we will all be enjoying beautiful 70 degree days in January anyway.

I pitched back in the day. The temp matters a lot.
 

SEIOWA CLONE

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I hear all those same things said about Football though too. That Iowa State can't recruit because of the weather against the southern schools, yet the Big 10 does it all the time in baseball. And I don't see them dropping baseball from the conference because of the weather, or the feeling they aren't good enough.

Everyone uses weather as an excuse, I really don't think you can use that as a real excuse considering all the school that have Baseball in the Big 10 are just as far north or much farther than Ames is.

I understand the early spring games but if Iowa, can, and Minnesota can, I don't think weather is that big of a detractor. I do realize all the other schools in the Big 12 are much farther south but the same can be said for football games at the end of November too.

Although I do understand the point that Iowa State is at a disadvantage in this regard against the rest of the Big 12. But I think Iowa State has this problem with many sports, and I don't think you can use it because if you do, you have to claim it for all of them.

I do realize there are many factors involved and I think that it is a long shot for gaining any sport at Iowa State, but as dynamics change, boosters change and as the college atmosphere change things could happen. Whether that be Baseball, Beach Volleyball, Women's Wrestling, or Tecmo bowl.
I am not even saying that baseball is the most likely choice as a future addition of a sport if one happens. I just think the weather excuse is a bit of a cop out.

I am one that would also like to see our money concentrated on our current sports and facilities myself, but I would love to see a couple of these sports either back or started at Iowa State, but ultimately I was just hoping for good discussion.

Hell and if the doomsday cult is right it will be so warm in Ames from Global warming that we will all be enjoying beautiful 70 degree days in January anyway.

But the big 10 teams are all in the same boat weather wise, no one has an advantage, baseball at ISU would be at a huge disadvantage to the rest of the conference.

I would love to see ISU competing in baseball, but when you look at our limitations, the weather, lack of finances, no modern stadium, its not happening anytime soon, unless a huge donor is willing to cough up some serious cash.
 

2speedy1

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Jan 4, 2014
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But the big 10 teams are all in the same boat weather wise, no one has an advantage, baseball at ISU would be at a huge disadvantage to the rest of the conference.

I would love to see ISU competing in baseball, but when you look at our limitations, the weather, lack of finances, no modern stadium, its not happening anytime soon, unless a huge donor is willing to cough up some serious cash.
I agree with what you are saying, to a point, but can't you say the same thing with all the sports, at least most of them. And with recruiting, too. Bringing a recruit to Iowa in Nov. or Dec. no matter what the sport is, it is a disadvantage compared to anywhere else. So, how can you use that for not having one sport but having another? That's my only point.

There are 347 D1 colleges and universities in the US, of those 299, have a baseball program. Are you tell me that Iowa State is one of those few that can't make it work?
In P5 conferences, (4) Iowa State, Wisconsin, Colorado and Syracuse are the only schools out of 66 that do not have a baseball program.
 
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cyclone13

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Apr 7, 2009
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And it never should

Ban anyone who believes differently. It's gone and gone for good.

I wouldn’t go that far to ban them but I agree - the ship has sailed. It’s gone and it’s really interesting to see some keep on pushing the idea that it is viable and it should come back etc etc.
From the business standpoint: even if you have a donor who wants to donate a baseball field, how are we going to fund the sports going forward? We will have to pay for facilities maintenance, coaches, scholarship, travel etc. Plus if we’ll probably have issue with Title IX. It will be a white elephant for us.

If the OP says why can’t we make it work? Just because it will not be a revenue generating sports. Unless it’s really necessary, why would we want to put a burden on our finances?

If someone comes with let’s say 50 millions, I rather spend it on coaches salaries, stadium improvement or Hilton improvements.
 

2speedy1

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I wouldn’t go that far to ban them but I agree - the ship has sailed. It’s gone and it’s really interesting to see some keep on pushing the idea that it is viable and it should come back etc etc.
From the business standpoint: even if you have a donor who wants to donate a baseball field, how are we going to fund the sports going forward? We will have to pay for facilities maintenance, coaches, scholarship, travel etc. Plus if we’ll probably have issue with Title IX. It will be a white elephant for us.

If the OP says why can’t we make it work? Just because it will not be a revenue generating sports. Unless it’s really necessary, why would we want to put a burden on our finances?

If someone comes with let’s say 50 millions, I rather spend it on coaches salaries, stadium improvement or Hilton improvements.
If sports are all about revenue, and generating it, why don't we get rid of all of them except for Football, maybe basketball and a few women's sports to balance title IX. Hell think of the money we could save on facilities and scholarships and staff, just to pump into football.

As far as Title IX goes, from my understanding we are actually ahead of the line there, and have room to add a men's sport. Actually, I don't believe dropping Baseball was a title IX issue in the first place, which begs the question, can you be out of balance the other way too, being too heavy on women's sports? While I doubt we are that far out of line there either, I have seen here somewhere the numbers that show our Title IX numbers are more than fine to add Baseball or any other men's sport if we so chose too.
I believe some of that also has gotten even better as our enrollment numbers have increased and our ratio numbers have balanced better.
 
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NorthCyd

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If sports are all about revenue, and generating it, why don't we get rid of all of them except for Football, maybe basketball and a few women's sports to balance title IX. Hell think of the money we could save on facilities and scholarships and staff, just to pump into football.

As far as Title IX goes, from my understanding we are actually ahead of the line there, and have room to add a men's sport. Actually, I don't believe dropping Baseball was a title IX issue in the first place, which begs the question, can you be out of balance the other way too, being too heavy on women's sports? While I doubt we are that far out of line there either, I have seen here somewhere the numbers that show our Title IX numbers are more than fine to add Baseball or any other men's sport if we so chose too.
I believe some of that also has gotten even better as our enrollment numbers have increased and our ratio numbers have balanced better.
You just keep answering the "why not", but you never say the "why". Why do we need any more sports than we already have at ISU?
 

Cardinal and Gold

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You just keep answering the "why not", but you never say the "why". Why do we need any more sports than we already have at ISU?

A “why” could be because summers are extremely boring for ISU sports. I think the CF off-season forums show the boredom of the fan base. Baseball is a summer sport, but we’ve already discussed the costs of this and the negative ROI. I’ve seen hockey discussed, but ISU basketball is king during the winter and would drastically lessen any possible revenue for Hockey. So I think we are down to a summer sport that doesn’t have too much cost. The only other summer sport I can think of is Bass fishing, they broadcast it all the time on ESPN and NBC Sports Network. As an avid fisherman I’d tune in, if I’m not fishing myself. Honest question, what other sports play/compete during the summer? If it’s not a summer sport, idk if a big enough fan base could be generated since football/basketball/wrestling compete fall-spring.
 

CycloneDaddy

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A “why” could be because summers are extremely boring for ISU sports. I think the CF off-season forums show the boredom of the fan base. Baseball is a summer sport, but we’ve already discussed the costs of this and the negative ROI. I’ve seen hockey discussed, but ISU basketball is king during the winter and would drastically lessen any possible revenue for Hockey. So I think we are down to a summer sport that doesn’t have too much cost. The only other summer sport I can think of is Bass fishing, they broadcast it all the time on ESPN and NBC Sports Network. As an avid fisherman I’d tune in, if I’m not fishing myself. Honest question, what other sports play/compete during the summer? If it’s not a summer sport, idk if a big enough fan base could be generated since football/basketball/wrestling compete fall-spring.
ISU baseball would be done by end of May so summers would still suck for ISU athletics.
 

2speedy1

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A “why” could be because summers are extremely boring for ISU sports. I think the CF off-season forums show the boredom of the fan base. Baseball is a summer sport, but we’ve already discussed the costs of this and the negative ROI. I’ve seen hockey discussed, but ISU basketball is king during the winter and would drastically lessen any possible revenue for Hockey. So I think we are down to a summer sport that doesn’t have too much cost. The only other summer sport I can think of is Bass fishing, they broadcast it all the time on ESPN and NBC Sports Network. As an avid fisherman I’d tune in, if I’m not fishing myself. Honest question, what other sports play/compete during the summer? If it’s not a summer sport, idk if a big enough fan base could be generated since football/basketball/wrestling compete fall-spring.
Summer = Beach Volleyball More and more schools are adding that. Although I see that as being a long shot at ISU.

Edit: I am curious, what College sports do have summer seasons? That is something I am not sure of the total number out there.
 
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2speedy1

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You just keep answering the "why not", but you never say the "why". Why do we need any more sports than we already have at ISU?

Honestly, I don't have a why for many of the sports I mentioned. I just brought up the ones that have been brought up in one discussion here or there or in articles I have read. Or ones that the Big 12 hosts.

As far as baseball goes the I guess the main reason is it just feels wrong being the only Big 12 school that doesn't have a team, a sport that is a major sport that is a national sport. A complimentary sport to Softball which we have. A sport we had for more than 100 years.
I feel like it is just something missing at Iowa State. Being one of the only major programs in the country that doesn't host a team. Is it necessary, no.

Will it ever come back, probably not. I just think it is something missing at Iowa State. Yet, I am also torn I want our current sports to keep getting as much support as possible, but our revenue is continuing to take giant leaps up so at some point are we going to have a little extra for something else? Maybe? I believe we are the only Big 12 school that has been operating in the Black, but is that a good thing, not spending all our money? I don't know, but we are being smart about it, and Pollard has been great and knows what hes doing.

But in the end baseball is not men's diving, it is Baseball.

Our program failed at Iowa State because we didn't support it. Just like the other sports that struggled and failed for decades, that has changed our culture at ISU has changed and success is now a better possibility.
 

Tornado man

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Honestly, I don't have a why for many of the sports I mentioned. I just brought up the ones that have been brought up in one discussion here or there or in articles I have read. Or ones that the Big 12 hosts.

As far as baseball goes the I guess the main reason is it just feels wrong being the only Big 12 school that doesn't have a team, a sport that is a major sport that is a national sport. A complimentary sport to Softball which we have. A sport we had for more than 100 years.
I feel like it is just something missing at Iowa State. Being one of the only major programs in the country that doesn't host a team. Is it necessary, no.

Will it ever come back, probably not. I just think it is something missing at Iowa State. Yet, I am also torn I want our current sports to keep getting as much support as possible, but our revenue is continuing to take giant leaps up so at some point are we going to have a little extra for something else? Maybe? I believe we are the only Big 12 school that has been operating in the Black, but is that a good thing, not spending all our money? I don't know, but we are being smart about it, and Pollard has been great and knows what hes doing.

But in the end baseball is not men's diving, it is Baseball.

Our program failed at Iowa State because we didn't support it. Just like the other sports that struggled and failed for decades, that has changed our culture at ISU has changed and success is now a better possibility.
Remember that one of those other universities that no longer offers baseball is Wisconsin - which has a lot more $$$ than we do. They dropped baseball prior to the Alvarez era due to budget reasons; even though now they're swimming in football and Big Ten money, they think spending those $$$ on other things are more important.
As far as ISU being a "northern" school that has no business being good in baseball: it's not lost on me that Michigan (Ann Arbor is further north than Ames) still has a chance to go to the College World Series, after beating #1 UCLA in LA a couple of days ago. Oregon State is a college baseball power, and their budget has to be close to ISU's, if not lower. Somehow they make it work.
 
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theshadow

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Oregon State is a college baseball power, and their budget has to be close to ISU's, if not lower. Somehow they make it work.

Corvallis' northern latitude belies its actual climate data. Any precip is almost entirely rain instead of snow, and even their average low temp in January is above freezing. They're able to be outdoors just about year-round.

corvallis-climate.png
 

NorthCyd

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Summer = Beach Volleyball More and more schools are adding that. Although I see that as being a long shot at ISU.

Edit: I am curious, what College sports do have summer seasons? That is something I am not sure of the total number out there.
The answer is none because of summer break. I would be much more in favor of baseball if it was a summer season.
 

CyDude16

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I agree with what you are saying, to a point, but can't you say the same thing with all the sports, at least most of them. And with recruiting, too. Bringing a recruit to Iowa in Nov. or Dec. no matter what the sport is, it is a disadvantage compared to anywhere else. So, how can you use that for not having one sport but having another? That's my only point.

There are 347 D1 colleges and universities in the US, of those 299, have a baseball program. Are you tell me that Iowa State is one of those few that can't make it work?
In P5 conferences, (5) Iowa State, Wisconsin, Colorado and Syracuse are the only schools out of 66 that do not have a baseball program.

Give it up.
 
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NetflixAndClone

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The State of Hockey
The Ames/ISU Ice Arena is not suitable for NCAA hockey. Not by a long shot.
Penn State had Terry Pegula as their donor to give $100 mil to build their new ice arena, and help start their NCAA hockey programs. Without that sugar daddy, they would not have that facility or NCAA hockey.
That's what ISU would need.
Yes it isnt ready for NCAA. Hence why it can be expanded and has room to add additional sheets of ice to the facility too.

This is Arizona State arena:
asu-osceanside-arena.jpg

636527023355095450-asuhockey4.JPG


They of course have been building a new arena for their hockey team, but if Iowa State expanded their arena to something similar to Colgate they would be fine.


IMG_1182.jpg
 

2speedy1

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The answer is none because of summer break. I would be much more in favor of baseball if it was a summer season.
Yeah I guess some just have summer games etc. like Volleyball. Beach volleyball is a spring season too, but many schools are building or adapting indoor facilities for it.